Ex-N.Y. cop gets 7 years in scheme

A tearful ex-cop begged for mercy Friday and got it when a federal judge in Brooklyn sentenced him to 7 years in prison, much less than the possible life term he faced for ripping off hundreds of thousands of dollars from drug dealers.

Thomas Rachko, 46, of the Bronx, told Judge Carol B. Amon that his compulsive gambling helped push him to steal the drug money over a five-year period in a scandal that implicated a number of other officers.